Crisis strikes

BY Melissa Grant
THE global economic crisis has officially hit the Cardinia Shire.
Mayor Bill Pearson said commercial and industrial activity had slowed dramatically in the municipality, just days after Edwards Ford in Kooweerup merged with David Nutter Ford amid concerns about the future of the motoring industry.
And Prime Minister Kevin Rudd dropped the ‘R” bomb several times when referring to his government’s Job and Training Compact program for the south-east, during a visit to neighbouring Narre Warren on Sunday.
“The impact of this global recession is felt here on the ground, in real families, in real local communities,” Mr Rudd said.
Cr Pearson said industrial and commercial businesses were already feeling the pinch, with less wanting to set-up shop in Cardinia.
“There’s no doubt the number of agenda items at Town Planning meetings – apart from residential housing – has slowed,” he said. “There has definitely been a slow down in industrial and commercial (sectors).”
Cr Pearson said fortunately most local businesses were trying to retain employees.
Edwards Ford, which had been operating for about 25 years in Kooweerup, last week joined forces with its sister business David Nutter Pakenham, but managed to keep all of its employees in the process.
“We are not retrenching staff, and all are offered a position at either Berwick or Pakenham branch,” dealer principal David Nutter wrote in a letter to his customers.
He wrote that the merger would result in “one bigger stronger business at the Pakenham location”.
Cr Pearson was hopeful other businesses would follow David Nutter’s lead by not retrenching staff.
He said the Cardinia Shire Council would, as it had no plans to axe jobs at its headquarters in the foreseeable future.
“It’s very easy for big businesses, and council is a big business, to knock off a few jobs and cut costs,” he said. “At the shire, we don’t want to be putting people out into a job market that doesn’t exist.”
Mr Rudd’s three-fold jobs and training compact program aims to act on the increasing unemployment figures by targeting young Australians, the retrenched and local communities affected by the crisis.
Trucking tycoon Lindsay Fox will advise employers in disadvantaged communities, including those in Melbourne’s south-east, about practical ways they can keep their workers and take on new apprentices and employees.
The Federal Government announced on Monday how Cardinia Shire would benefit from Mr Rudd’s local community infrastructure program, part of its job and training compact for communities.
>>> To find out what infrastructure projects the Rudd Government will spend $1.162 million on in Cardinia Shire, turn to Page 13.